What's going on everyone! Thank God for being able to communicate in different ways, because if I had to talk today, (with the voice I have) I probably wouldn't have vocal chords period! After leading an amazing worship service Sunday morning, I woke Monday with my voice shot! and today is only a bit better. I don't know if I strained it or what. But sometimes I sound like Barry White and other times I'll sound like I am going through puberty! Seriously! Have you ever felt this way before or sounded this way before? There are some vocal warmups and exercises that I know of that will help me take care of them. For instance these are the things I will be doing to recover:1. Drink lots of water
2. Talk less or no talking at all
3. Lemon and Honey mix
4. Inhale steam from water
These are some but you tell me, What are other ways to help your vocal chords recover when they are strained or tired? What have you done in the past? Please share I might need to lead worship this weekend and I need my vocal chords to get better FAST!
Until next time
Stay blessed
3 comments:
I haven't signed up on TWC (yet), so you get my comments here. I would add sufficient physical rest to your list, and ensure that if you do any thing that is physically taxing, that you aren't engaging the vocal mechanism (ex. heavy lifting accompanied by a grunt).
Doesn't sound like the lemon/honey thing will have much of an impact - it's more for clearing mucus from the throat and soothing. I get the impression that you are not sick. If injured, your voice could be producing mucus on the folds as a measure of protection.
One of the key (and natural) ingredients in the throat coat tea is slippery elm. You can buy slippery elm lozenges which are soothing, though a bit grainy. (NOTE for women - I believe I read somewhere that pregnant women should not use slippery elm.)
As best I can understand, your voice has suffered some sort of abuse resulting in strain or other injury. The one thing I would recommend to you most is total vocal rest or VERY limited speaking (NO whispering). It is possible it could even be necessary for more than this week if you have any damage to the vocal folds.
I would REALLY recommend a visit to an ENT. If you call Orlando Opera I'm sure they can give you the name of the ENT the refer their visiting singers to, who would be singer friendly. An ENT will be the only one who can tell you what is going on and what you need to do.
Assuming there is no major damage, as your voice rests and bounces back, you will want to engage it gently. Hums, lip trills, etc. and make sure you're fully warmed up to sing (it would even aid your speaking). Don't get too eager too soon, or push it when you can sing again. Also go easy on the amout of air you use, and make sure you're using proper breath support.
Wishing you a speedy recovery!
Wow! Awesome stuff! Thank you very much I will take into consideration everything you told me. Thanks again
Hi Johnny, thanks for stopping by my blog and commenting. It was nice to meet a new "friend" and fellow worship leader.
The suggestions in the previous comment were great!!! Especially, getting to see an ENT. That would be the most valuable suggestion of all.
I haven't spent much time on your blog, in fact, this is my first visit so I'll have a look around. Since I'm a bit uninformed at this point of your vocal background I hope you don't mind if I assume you aren't aware of some good vocal exercises and techniques that will help insure you wont end up getting into this predicament again.
I've had some real major success correcting bad technique and vocal damage with Speech Level Singing. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already and may the Lord bring a speedy recovery to you!
Blessings and Joy in Jesus,
Cosima
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